Book Publishing in the Modern Age

When many people think about the publishing field, they think of traditional book publishing and the process that aspiring authors go through in order to get their works into the hands of the public. However, in recent years, countless changes in publishing have arisen that have changed the face of the publishing industry forever. From niche publishing, to digital-born items, to digitization of previously printed materials and their eventual dissemination to e-books, the face of traditional “book” publishing has changed completely in just the past 10 years alone.

However, despite numerous advancements, the traditional book publishing industry as many people think of it is still strong both in the United States and around the world. While some most of the books published in the United States are published by a small number of large publishers, many of these publishers have reported some of their best sales ever in recent years. Additionally, an incredible number of smaller, niche publishing companies have arisen recently, publishing books that are centered around a given industry or even type of writing, and these publishing houses have become incredibly successful and popular among their targeted clientele.

Challenges to Traditional Book Publishing

One of the greatest challenges to traditional, print book publishing in recent years has been the rise in popularity of e-books. With an incredible number of popular devices on which to read e-books, and the extremely competitive prices of books in digital format, many individuals have reduced their print buying habits and instead, turned to the e-book markets of Amazon (for the Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (for the Nook).

This has taken a toll on both new book printing as well as printing of older, classic titles – especially for older works that have fallen into the public domain and can be downloaded for free onto a variety of e-readers. However, as mentioned above, many book publishers have reported record-breaking years in terms of print sales, thanks largely to the success of incredibly popular titles in recent years.

E-book Self-Publishing Options

Individuals looking to publish their work have more options available to them now than ever before, especially with the increase in popularity of self publishing, and more specifically, self publishing in the e-book market.

The rise in self publishing, both in print and e-book format, has opened up incredible avenues and removed significant barriers to entry for aspiring writers looking to make their work available and hopefully, make some money off it as well. There are a number of options available to individuals looking to self publish, and depending on what your specific publishing goals happen to be, some of these options may be more beneficial for you than others.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

One of the most well-known and widely-discussed self publishing options available at this time is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP. As the name implies, this option allows individuals the chance to publish their work directly to Amazon’s Kindle marketplace, and they can do this all on their own, without getting anyone else involved with whom they would have to share profits. However, users are welcome to work with an e-book aggregator or another party if they would like help preparing their book for publishing through Amazon. Amazon shares 70% of royalties with authors (although there are some fees and rules that apply to this).

Lulu

Lulu is a popular e-book publishing and aggregator service that distributes published e-books to the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, and also makes them available on Lulu.com. Lulu offer users a guide for creating their e-book and offers many premium aggregator services to users for free, and only takes 10% of a user’s final royalties from the iBookstore and the Nook store.

Smashwords

Smashwords was one of the original e-book self publishing platforms, and remains one of the largest players in the field. Unlike Lulu that offers users a wealth of tools to publish their works, Smashwords requires users to be able to do most of the work themselves, uploading their book and cover art file to the site, and from there, choosing a format in which their book can be presented. Books published by Smashwords can sell their work on Smashwords’ website, or they can distribute it to Barnes & Noble’s Nook store, Apple’s iBooks, and a number of other e-book retailers.